About 2 g of tea and 70 cc of 70°C water.Whisk it first slowly but strongly, touching the bottom of the bowl. Then, get speed and mix until you get bubbles. You can finally mix slowly the surface of the liquid to get more thin bubbles.

Mouvrment had to come from all the arm and shoulder, not only the hand. It's easier if your arm is straight down over the bowl.

Flonihoncha wrote:About 2 g of tea and 70 cc of 70°C water.Whisk it first slowly but strongly, touching the bottom of the bowl. Then, get speed and mix until you get bubbles. You can finally mix slowly the surface of the liquid to get more thin bubbles.

Mouvrment had to come from all the arm and shoulder, not only the hand. It's easier if your arm is straight down over the bowl.

Welcome to the forum "Flonihoncha!"

This is for Usacha or thin matcha. In addition, the whisking for usacha should be in the form of a "W" or "M"

Chip, thank you for this precision. This is for usucha, completely forgot this important point.

About storage, the best is to keep the matcha in the alumi bag, close it as there is no air in it, then put it in another bag (like ziplock) and enclose it in a can you keep in the fridge. Of course, the better way is to use all the tea quickly.

+1 ... air, moisture, and time are most likely the biggest enemies of your matcha.

Storage is a tricky issue as several variable factors come into play, such as do you have a "safe fridge?" Safe meaning, a fridge generally free of odors, and you can place it where it will not be hit with warm, moist, outside air when routinely opening the fridge which will then condense on the packaging.

Generally unopened packages are placed in cold storage til you are ready to open and use, avoid opening multiple matcha-s at the same time, freshness is critical!

Once open, I recommend you use it within several weeks. If you are not going to be using it regularly, and want to prolong its "open shelf life," you can place back into cold storage ... but this is risky business!!! It must be wrapped up carefully and then allowed to warm to room temp before opening or it will be ruined.

I just keep matcha in the original can at room temperature...as long as I stick to only buying small quantities at a time it´s not hard to finish off before it goes stale...it´s usually good for around 3 months before it really starts to decline even without taking any special measures.

Moisture is the enemy of kebab, and matcha too. Store it airtight, in a cool dark place, avoid heat fluctuations, so a drawer is good, not the fridge, after opening consume it within a month, I usually do not stock up on matcha, not do the teashops, they keep it in tencha - leaf form and grind it gradually as needed, and pack it, so they do not grind it all ahead, generally 3 month max before you bought your matcha it was in leaf form. And if you make koicha, sift it, static electricity can make it lumpy, that is not good. P.S. Buy directly from Japan and from reputable vendors.

However, here's an alternative way to prepare matcha, this not the traditional one, but with that, you have a really sweet and airy drink.

This is very simple. Instead of pouring directly hot water in the bowl, first pour about 5 or 10 cc of cold water. Then beat until you get a very smooth "liquid" (at this step, this not really liquid). Then complete with hot water and mix. I think it's also easier to get a lot of thin foam.

my whisk came with a clear plastic tube. but after the first use, it seems as thou the tines were no longer "curly" as it was when it was still new and unused. it turned out that i can no longer close the lid of the plastic tube container with out forcing the tines down for about 1/4 to 1/2 inch.